Giant Bombcast 12-08-2009

Continuing the trend from last week, Brad is still out of the office which allows Drew Scanlon the rare chance to sit in on the podcast. Vinny starts off the first segment by discussing how he spent most of the weekend collecting the last of the feathers in Assassin’s Creed II, although admits that it very well may not have been worth it. Somehow this leads into a discussion on Christmas trees and tree farms. Jeff then discusses his weekend of playing through Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks in order to get the review done for Monday.

Drew speaks up for it seems like the first time to talk about his experience with Shadow Complex, which he says lives up to all of the hype he has heard around the office for the past few months. Ryan has spent most of his time playing The Saboteur, and describes it as “distinctly Pandemic”, meaning that the game is a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none experience. He also mentions Star Wars: The Old Republic preview, but thinks it is too early to really tell.

News this week is highlighted by the announcement of Medal of Honor and Dead Space 2, along with the rumored development of Mirror’s Edge 2. They also quickly discuss Kim Swift moving from Valve to Airtight games, leading to myriad of Portal jokes. New releases and emails end the show as usual.

Gather ’round the ole Bombcast for tales of pagan Christmas tree rituals, suicide eff bombers, enemy trains, Le Saboteur, dice rolls in Star Wars: The Old Republic, Medal of Honor’s modern warfare, the most common achievement names, and so much more!

But that's what the beauty of the Giant Bombcast is – it never once got boring. I was laughing at loud during all of those moments – not the best show this year to be fair, but one of the few podcasts I've ever listened to that's actually made me laugh out loud. I feel that the shorter shows are the ones that just aren't as good; they've hit a very happy medium where anywhere from 120 to 150 minutes seems to be the golden mark.

On a side note, have they mentioned if they're going to be doing a Game of the Year show this year? To be honest, I wouldn't expect them to do one as there isn't any opposition to Uncharted 2 this year, and that seems to be like a pretty universal feeling. There have been good games, but none in the class of Uncharted 2. (I suspect that Jeff would lean toward Street Fighter IV.) The beauty of last year's Game of the Year show was the debate between Metal Gear Solid 4 and Grand Theft Auto IV; a similar feel probably won't exist this year.

I really enjoy when they go off on tangents, but then no particular podcast is my main source for video game news. Perhaps people who don't read the news sites on a regular basis have less patience for frivolity in their podcasts and this could explain some of the negative votes on this site. I often listen to podcasts just to make my commute go by faster so I am much more forgiving of silliness.